Introduction Electronic Commerce (E-commerce of EC) is the exchange of business information using electronic formats, including Electronic Data Interchange (EDI, Electronic Mail (e-mail), Electronic Bulletin Boards (EBBs) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). E-commerce Technologies are designed to replace traditional paper-based workflow with faster, more efficient and reliable communications between computers. To conduct business in the current environment using E-Commerce technologies requires that a business have access to a computer and a modem. This article is intended to introduce you to E-Commerce technologies mentioned above, to provide you with an overview of the use of E-commerce technologies in the commercial arena and to show you how to use these technologies to benefit your business.
E-commerce is what happens when you combine the broad reach of the Internet with the vast resources of traditional information technology systems. It uses the Web to bring together customers, vendors, and suppliers in ways never before possible e-commerce is here and presents abundant opportunities. Companies around the world already but and sell over the Internet. They connect with customers, suppliers and each other. They do business on the WEB, and consequently, they do more business. There are challenges like security, scalability and reliability. They are real, but they are surmountable. E-commerce is about web enabling your core business processes to improve customer service, reduce cycle time, get more results from limited resources, and actually sell things. In its simplest terms electronic commerce is the process of two or more parties making business transactions via computer and some type of network - e.g. a direct connection or the Internet. This includes business-to-business transactions, online retail, and the digitalization of the financial industry. Some experts and leading Net Entrepreneurs even argue that electronic commerce includes all the steps that occur in any business cycle, such as placing ads, completing invoices, and providing customer support. The term "e-commerce", often used interchangeably with IBM's coined term "e-business," covers a lot of ground and refers to all these areas. Background E-commerce actually began in the 1970s when larger corporations started creating private networks to share information with business partners and suppliers. This process, called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), transmitted standardized data that streamlined the procurement process between businesses, so that paperwork and human intervention were nearly eliminated. EDI is still in place, and is so effective at reducing costs and improving efficiency that an estimated 95% of Fortune 1,000 companies use it. It was, and is, the foundation of electronic commerce. Today, electronic commerce increasingly refers to business conducted over the Internet. EDI, for example, is being brought to the Internet and allowing companies to save money by eliminating the old system's expensive private networks and by expanding reach to include more businesses on the supply chain. Other business-to-business transactions are simply moving to the web without using the standardized forms required by EDI. But the e-commerce buzz that you hear on the radio, see on TV, and read in the papers and online refers to online retailing -- using the web to sell goods, services and information to consumers. Online retailing began four years ago, and was pioneered largely by Internet companies that didn't (and some still don't) perform traditional retail, such as Amazon.com and CD Now. More recently, brand names like Barnes and Noble, the Gap, and Wal-Mart and Indian companies like BPB publications and rediff on the net have set up shop on the Net, and many experts believe that these and other brand names will be able to establish long-lasting presence on the Web. Today, all a person needs is a computer, a browser, and Internet access, and he or she can buy flowers, airline tickets, and even a car. Tomorrow... who knows. The sky's the limit.  Advantages and Pitfalls
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